“Boys, I’ve given a great deal of thought to what I’m about to say. I’ve talked it over with the staff and we all came to the same conclusion – that there should be some form of punishment for the unspeakable behavior of yesterday. (Pause) Most of you are here because you could not adjust to the outside world. You broke the rules of society. At some time… in your childhood perhaps… you were allowed to get away with that. But when you broke a rule you knew it. You wanted to be punished – needed it – but the punishment did not come. That leniency on the part of your parents may have been the germ of your present illness. I remind you of this, hoping you will understand that it is entirely for your own good that we enforce discipline.” –Nurse Ratched; One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (Stage Play)

Dolores Umbridge of the Harry Potter series

Dolores Umbridge is one of the only villains that’s truly made my stomach churn; right there with Mildred Ratched (Nurse Ratched of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest). Same can be said for Frollo of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, who is considered the scariest Disney villain due to his realistic fear striking. Sister Jude (Judy Martin) of season two’s American Horror Story: Asylum fits this category to an extent. Why? Besides these types of power hungry individuals actually existing in our schools, work place, etc. They are directly responsible for keeping the wheel of these inhumane systems of bigotry, hatred, & separation moving.

Nurse Mildred Ratchedof One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

They are enablers that weasel their way into positions of power; specifically through some sort of position that has direct influence over others on an institutional level. Schools, mental hospitals, government positions, etc. are perfect examples of intuitions where the minds of the masses are in a vulnerable position and easily influenced and steered.

Sister Judeof American Horror Story: Asylum

What’s most disturbing is their methods of concealing their bigotry and intolerance.

They hide it, and they hide it well; much of it using subtle means.

They will do all that they can to convince you that you are somebody or something that you are certainly NOT. They do this by manipulation, coercion, and delivery of some sort of sermon. Anything to convince you of what they believe to be their truth.

Their lull’s and smiles are covered in poison as they pretend to nurture you. When in the presence of someone like this, we often feel drained, sick, or dirty on an energetic level.

Sometimes these malevolent institutional gatekeepers are very observant and will use their observations of you to their own advantage.

Watch out.

Others will just call it as they see it.

Does it come as a surprise that many of perpetrators/institutional gatekeepers are women? To me, not really. These women–even if they claim their behavior is all them–aren’t always aware (or are) that behind them is a council made up of mostly–if not all–men. These men know and perpetuate a system sometimes even they don’t fully understand.

Either way, you can’t negotiate with these people.

As the disfranchised, misfits, dreamers, weirdos, and regular everyday folk, we have to mass together if we want things to change. They may think they have power over others….but what they don’t understand is that the rest of us outnumber the power hungry 99 to 1.

Is this the year of the Norma/Norman Bates mother/(killer) son dysfunctional relationship dynamic on TV?

Norman & Norma Bates of Bates Motel

No seriously, we have the actual Norma & Norman Bates of Bates Motel, with Norma having to come to terms with her sons psychological illness and issues getting worse and worse; we have Oswald Cobblepott & his mother, Gertrud Kapelput that have a weird connection all their own going on; and then there’s psychotic, copy-cat clown, serial killer, Dandy Mott, and his mother Gloria in this season (four) of American Horror Story: Freak show.

Dandy & Gloria Mott of season 4 of American Horror Story: Freak show

What do these mothers & sons all have in common? Well…the sons are all obviously killers; their mothers know this…or will soon find out…they’re unabashedly devoted to their boys, yet they haven’t a clue how to properly deal with their sons descent into madness….

But watch out: These overprotective mothers will do whatever it takes to make sure their boys are safe from harm; even if that means hiding the bodies for them, and crossing a few moral lines themselves along the way.

Oswald Cobblepott, & his mother, Gertrud Kapelput of Gotham

Gertrud is….pretty convinced her Oswald has run off with some lady friend. Not sure where she gets that idea…But nonetheless there’s a few boundaries she needs to abide by:

First rule: Let your son take his bath. Alone. Capiche? …All kinds of awkward here. He’s had a rough day dealing with all kinds of pre-Batman criminal mob stuff. I think he can sponge bathe himself.

Oh hell…lets be real: These mothers are facing their own journey and descent into madness.

Exhibit A:

Yeah, Gloria….where he devours them into that void of a mouth, behind that faux DCnu Joker mask.

In spite of these mama’s over-protective killer instincts…the monsters their sons have become reflect a really nasty reality we face today: Enabling undesirable, unacceptable, and often abhorrent behaviors in people in order to maintain the status quo; particularly at any costs, and especially if said person has a reputation to maintain.

It’s much worse when the killer is rife with privileges, which include class, gender, and race–specifically the white, rich, males who have some sort of societal and class protection. Dandy Mott is a perfect example of someone whose privilege and stunted emotions run unchecked. Sheltered from the world and spoiled rotten by his mother hasn’t helped his psych any either. He’s come to embrace his inner emptiness and darkness, as well as pulling inspiration from the now deceased, tortured soul, Twisty the clown (pictured above).

Dandy Mott’s smashing clown costume

Dandy isn’t afraid to show his mother whom he truly and fully is. This puts Gloria in a very tight spot. Though…it’s hard to empathize someone who enables such warped behavior….especially one that’s admitted to having been at least aware of the inbreeding that’s been going on in the Mott family. It’ll be interesting to see what Gloria ends up doing in the midst of Dandy’s knife happy shenanigans…

Same could be said for Norma Bates. In that corrupt, quiet, coastal Oregon town there’s only so many places one can hide a body. Norman is still a teenager, and has killed two people or more already….though his diagnosis and motivation isn’t necessarily caused by malice or sociopathy…that we know of. Norman’s blackouts are still something to be explored. He may just have a bad case of mental illness…We’ll have to wait and see. We know where his story goes…but it’s the mechanics of his mental illness we need to understand.

Either way…It’ll be interesting to see how far these mothers are willing to be pushed, both by themselves and by their sons’ madness.

“Narrator: Everyone is born, but not everyone is born the same. Some will grow to be butchers, or bakers, or candlestick makers. Some will only be really good at making Jell-O salad. One way or another, though, every human being is unique, for better or for worse.

[Harry takes his first look at Matilda, grunts, and leaves]

Narrator: Most parents believe their children are the most beautiful creatures ever to grace the planet. Others take a less emotional approach.

Congratulations, for taking absolutely no interest in your intellectual prodigy daughter. She’s a human calculator, has read every single children’s library book, and has a college level IQ. I mean, look at this face:

She has a face that will one day, undoubtedly, cure cancer…and all you can do is sit there in sloth with your tainted TV dinners and your dirty car sales tricks. Yeah…I mean, who needs to read and fill their minds with knowledge right? Who needs those pesky intellectuals who move our society forward anyway?? You know…the doctors and scientists that help cure common diseases; the teachers that are partially responsible for making sure the next generation doesn’t devolve. Oh! And the engineers that build our space ships to send our astronauts into space in hopes that we might find signs of intelligent life somewhere….out there…wherever that may be. Because lets face it: We’re coming up bone dry in the signs of intelligent life on our planet; common sense becoming a common rarity. But yeah…Who needs those people, eh? Meh…

Well, the good news is that your kid is immune to your bullshittery of deceit, stupidity and ignorance with her hunger and eagerness to learn and grow as a person. She’s proof that we, as offspring, aren’t fully influenced by our environment, and/or our parents or the guardians that raised us.

Considering how many parents would deem it a god send to have a child like Matilda, one can only wonder WHY people like Harry & Zinnia Wormwood have children to begin with? Chances are Michael (Matilda’s older brother) and Matilda were the byproduct of a couple of passionate nights between Mr. & Mrs. Wormwood. I mean, that’s how it all starts out anyway, right? Perhaps Zinnia and Harry don’t actually like children. …The world may never know. And for that, I shrug.

Either way, Harry and Zinnia, between your negligence, and not caring whether your child succeeds at life, people in the real world like YOU are the very definition of why our society is heading towards a real life Idiocracy.

So again, congratulations and hats off to you!

Oh wait….

In all seriousness, Matilda is one of those stories where the book and the movie are both really good, at least in my humble opinion. I never did see the Broadway musical, so I cannot comment on that. In terms of the book and the film each has a unique vision, is stylistic, and each allow the audience to look through the eyes of this extraordinary young girl.

And come on! Who doesn’t like Danny Devito’s vision and direction? Have you seen his later film, Death To Smoochy (2002)?

Matilda is a grade A example of why we don’t need to be co-dependent on our parents for everything. Given the direction Generation Y (Millennials) are headed in at this moment in time, with the state of the economy, dwindling full time jobs, hours, and benefits, loss of healthcare. etc. it becomes more of a challenge for a good number of my generation not to depend on their parents and family in some aspect or another. Like it or not, there are many situations that are not within my generations control right now, even if we do everything in our power to be as independent as humanly possible. But that’s just where we’re at at this moment in time.

The story of Matilda is a clear demonstration of how our reactions play a crucial role in maintaining our own happiness, health, and overall well being. That’s not to say that everyone isn’t different in how they deal with stress and negativity. If you suffer from depression or any sort of mental illness, then that crucially needs to be factored into the equation. Matilda holds herself up pretty well, in spite of her parents neglect and unethical behavior. She doesn’t allow her parents to discourage her from reading, learning or growing to her fullest potential; and most certainly doesn’t react or blame herself unnecessarily for Harry and Zinnia’s ignorance. Her maturity level is exceeded beyond her years.

Lauren Lungerich, creator of MTV’s Awkward once said: (…though I’ve heard this quote before) “You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it.” Something about her saying this during the making of Awkward really stood out to me. Awkward’s main character, Jenna Hamilton–which I’ll be writing about here soon in more detail–had a lot of negativity coming her way during the first couple of seasons of Awkward from school, her parents, and various curve balls that life kept throwing at this high school misfit. She managed to handle and deal with her problems with grace and tact, and turned a lot of her problems into something that could help herself, as well as others move forward. Matilda does something similar, but still manages to have fun in the process; proving you don’t have to be malicious to play a prank on someone, especially your parents. After all, it’s a possibility they deserve a lot worse than a prank scare, but that’s not for me or you to decide. 😉

That poor parrot though…stuck in a chimney for days? Ah, well…I’d probably stick to super gluing my dads hat on his head.

There are two drastically different directions this story could have gone:

1. The actual direction it went in: Overcoming fear, discouragement, and the ignorance of others; resulting in fun times.

Carrie had a much more damaging upbringing than Matilda did, so I’m not too sure this is a fair assessment… Ultimately, the choice was theirs.

Harry and Zinnia Wormwood represent the apathy that comes when society starts to take for granted the thing, situations, places, and people we should value…but don’t have an appreciation for because they’re so integrated into our daily lives. Although the book came out in 1988, and the movie in 1996, many aspects of the story of Matilda still ring true, especially in this day and age as we descend further and further into a materialistic and self absorbed society. Harry and Zinnia’s bad parenting doesn’t just come from their self absorbed and unethical nature; they allow themselves to become susceptible to the media and other societal influences by zoning out in front of the television and other forms of easily digestible consumerism.

The Wormwood’s don’t value their daughter and her intelligence, simply because they don’t value hard work, intellectual pursuits, education, or a challenge. They’d rather take the easy way out by doing the least amount of work for the largest amount of reward. Harry Wormwood’s job as a dirty car salesman makes this fact pretty obvious and overt. This extends to their parenting as well. Matilda learned instinctively very very early on that she had to become super self reliant if she were to survive in this world; especially from an emotional standpoint.

Often times, those that cannot seek emotional solace and support from within their own families often have no other choice but to seek it out elsewhere. Matilda found a kindred spirit–and later a mother–in her teacher, Miss Honey. Both of them share a similar past with abusive and negligent family members. Ms. Trunchbull being Miss Honey’s main guardian after the death of her father at a very young age.

“You were born into a family that doesn’t always appreciate you, but one day, things are going to be very different.” Miss Honey; Matilda (1996)

When we’re young, we have very little say in where we get to live, let alone who we surround ourselves with. In the US, many teenagers don’t get to leave their home until their 18th birthday. …That is unless they get themselves emancipated, or can convince social services to have them removed from whatever dysfunctional situations they’re in. Many children end up coming up with coping methods to deal with the dysfunction. Matilda’s coping method was immersing herself in her story books, school work, and surrounding herself with friends. For someone as young as six, that may have been her only option. Either way, as challenging as it can be not to get sucked into family drama and dysfunction, Matilda managed to completely focus her energies on expanding the power of her mind; using it constructively. That’s not an easy thing to do, but it can be done and is often necessary.

In spite of their bad parenting, Harry and Zinnia did at least one great thing for their daughter, and that was giving her up for adoption to the one person who loved and valued her most: Jennifer Honey; allowing Matilda to grow up in a loving family.

Everyone has to do what’s best for their children. Sometimes that requires letting them go so they can live up to their fullest potential, in a positive and loving environment.

-Glen asking Chucky & Tiffany about their killing habits in the 2004 film, Seed Of Chucky

Poisonous Parents are going to be a series of blog posts I’ll be making on the worst parents or parental figures in pop culture. Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m a huge fan of Runaways by Brian K Vaughan about six kids who find out their parents are super villains and end up running away from home, vowing to reject their evil legacy by becoming heroes. No worries, friends. I will get to The Pride in due time.

Today: I focus on Chucky and Tiffany aka Charles Lee Ray and Tiffany Valentine-Ray of Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, two of my favorite characters of all time played by the fabulous Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly; and written (and directed) by the very talented and creative Don Mancini.

Before I began, I will say that instead of completely 100% focusing on Chucky and Tiffany and what makes them the worlds worst parents, I also want to add that I’ll be looking at the psychs of Glen and Glenda and how they’re affected by the psychotic reckless actions and behavior of their parents.

I once asked Don Mancini, (writer/director) of the Child’s Play/Chucky franchise “Don, why didn’t Chucky and Tiffany ask Glen about his very obvious British accent?” For whatever strange reason, I found it odd that Chucky–the very killer doll that finds his victims, stalks them, & then goes for the kill– didn’t take two seconds to ask his only son/daughter “Glen, why do you sound like a character from a Charles Dickens novel?”

Don’s response?

“….They just weren’t very good parents.”

I mean…lets face it…

Oh heck, let’s put ourselves in Chucky and Tiffany’s shoes:

You’re parents.

–*Newlyrents,* actually…as I like to call people who just discovered their offspring, after said offspring brings them back from the dead.

You’re busy.

Between figuring out who you’re next human vessel is going to be, hiding those bodies, batting those plastic doe eyes at Jennifer Tilly, and using your Tiny Tim accented kid as the peddle worker of the getaway car in your human poaching shenanigans, who actually has time to ask their child those basic essential questions every parent who just discovered they had a child they didn’t know about.

*Catches my breath*

Questions like: Where have you been for the last six year? Who raised you? And how were you able to acquire such an exquisite British accent? Did you travel with ‘The Doctor’ in the Tardis? Were you his companion?! Is that where the accent came from?

It’s understandable.

We get you. 😉

In fact, with Chucky and Tiffany this scenario is more likely:

All the while Glen is standing there, taking it all in:

If it wasn’t enough that Glen was raised by a mean spirited and creepy ventriloquist wannabe the first six years of his life, he had to face even more negativity and violence upon meeting his biological parents, Chucky and Tiffany. It might come as a surprise to many that Glen didn’t end up jaded or become mean spirited himself.

Depressed? Yes. Sad? Sure. Damaged? Definitely.

At our very core of what make us…well…US. We have our own personalities, our own experiences, and our own thoughts. We all come from somewhere, and to an extent we all carry at least a little bit of influence from our parents or the individuals that helped raise us; be it a guardian, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, etc. Even if the latter of these people didn’t raise us, surely some of them were within orbit, and contributed somewhat to the climate of the environment for better or for worse.

I love Glen. He’s really not what you’d expect as the love child of Chucky and Tiffany. And by that I don’t mean “He’s good, their bad” type of of expectation. Glen is Glen. He’s compassionate, kind, gentle, loving. He has all the makings of a perfect pacifist. And that’s part of who he is.

All Glen really wants is a family.

More specifically:

A loving family, with all the makings of every Dickensian orphans’ dream: A turkey on the table, snow fall outside, kind parents, and..well…love. All around.

Glen sees the best in everyone.

There’s nothing wrong with that, except that it has the potential to become and is a real problem when you’re surrounded by individuals that are so dark, there’s no redeeming qualities about them.

Chucky’s a psychopath & a homicidal maniac. Plain and simple. He’s ruined and continues to ruin so many lives; Both Chucky & Tiffany have ruined lives. Tiffany may have a sweet side to her, but even she is sour as death on the inside–(Paraphrasing Detective Vera Cruz from the 1999 film, Jawbreaker.)

Glen was six years old during the time period Seed of Chucky was set in. As smart and brave as he was and I’m sure still is, he’s going to have to learn to be fully aware of the darkness that exists in others. Especially the darkness that lies within himself. Personally, I thought it was out of character of Glen to kill Chucky the way he did at the end Seed. I like to think he snapped and blacked out when he chopped off his fathers limbs. I also felt like a part of Glen’s humanity died along with Chucky right there in that hospital room; he seemed to compromise himself. I mean….Chucky never truly dies. Still to this day I have no idea what to make of that scene. It’s complicated. But complications can be blessings in disguise because we as humans aren’t all black and white, and Glen is no exception. He will learn the truth in time. He will learn to face his shadow self. There’s always hope he will become a better person because of it.

…Hopefully…

For now, he’s going to have to learn through his experiences and hopefully become all the wiser for it. And that might unfortunately involve something being taken from him in some form at the hands of his parents; namely Chucky.

Either way, I salute Glen for not running away from who he is; even though he really shouldn’t be anywhere near his parents.

He’s a loving soul and that deserves at least FOUR candy cane grams!!!

(Namely for putting up with your parents shit and winning at life–so far!)
FOUR FOR YOU, GLEN COCO! YOU GO GLEN COCO! XD

…Come on! You all knew that I couldn’t resist posting this. 😉

Although they’re irredeemable psychopaths and serial killers, one thing is for certain:

Chucky and Tiffany are both well invested in their children.

For Chucky, it’s a way to pass on his sick twisted ways, as well as have another outlet and an excuse to go out and kill and ruin more lives as he sees fit.

For Tiffany, it’s her dream fantasy with Chucky come true: Married, cooking for Chucky with a couple of little ones running around; not to mention Tiffany’s need and desire for a family, as seen in Bride of Chucky with the play pen.

Ever since Chucky said in Child’s Play 2 “I hate kids,” when referring to his soul transferring shenanigans with Andy Barclay I secretly wanted to know EXACTLY how he would react to having a child or children. The end of Bride of Chucky gave me hope to see yet another dimension to Chucky’s personality. Bride of Chucky was one of my favorite films for that very reason. We were able to see a humanized aspect of his personality we hadn’t yet seen before. We also got a glimpse into his past through his interactions with Tiffany, whom he had lived with for years previous to being gunned down by the police. Bride & Seed of Chucky humanized Chucky as a character.
I was almost certain that Chucky would be just as mean and nasty to Glen as he was to Andy Barclay. I was actually a little surprised to find almost the opposite. Emphasis on almost! I say *almost* because Chucky seemed to work or possibly level a little more with Glen. Of course, Chucky was still verbally abusive, as shown at the beginning of this scene:

Nonetheless, Chucky–in his own sick, twisted way–saw ‘potential’ in Glen to be a killer.

…Though, perhaps it was Glenda he recognized deep inside the psych of Glen as the one that has the ultimate potential.

I must say that I was a little disappointed to not see too much interaction between Chucky and Glenda. Based on the brutal way in which Glenda killed Joan and all that we heard from the mouth of Fulvia, I’m willing to bet Glenda is going to outdo both of her parents in the killing, manipulation, and strategy department….or could just end up in a straight jacket. All of it is possible. Either way, Chucky and Tiffany’s joint reaction to Glenda’s hair spray firebending is both priceless and enough to put even Princess Azula of the Fire Nation (from Avatar: The Last Airbender) to shame.

One thing to note is that Chucky doesn’t engage Glen in a fight until Glen engages him in Seed of Chucky. I find it aspect interesting, considering he would kill Tiffany without a second thought; and we know Chucky and Tiffany can both be brought back, so I’m not sure if that even counts. We may have to see more interactions between Chucky and his children to get a better look at what he’s capable of doing to them; namely what lines Chucky is willing to cross regarding his deadly impulses and his children’s lives. Either way, the twisted and fucked up family dynamic of the Ray family is something I’ve always found interesting having analyzed these characters for quite sometime.

It may be a while before we see Chucky, Tiffany, Glen, & Glenda together again. It’s something I’m holding out for and hope will happen in the coming sequels.

I feel the more we see Tiffany, Glen, and Glenda the more of Chucky’s personality we’ll discover.

Because Damballa knows Glen and Glenda are going to drive Chucky bonkers in their teen years!

Namely Glenda…Exhibit A:

Or worse, Glenda messing with Damballa:

Who knows, maybe someone can put together a web series on Glen and Glenda and how they deal with the throws of high school and/or college life. I would help make and watch it. 🙂

“It’s more than a tradition, it’s a legacy. Take in those like us, mentor and train them. Never turn away someone with the hunger to become what we are.” -Oracle (Bird’s Of Prey tv series) on training young heroes.

For the past eight years I had been deathly scared about getting my wisdom teeth out. So scared–in fact–that for about a year I had these constant panic attacks, followed by impulsively asking anyone I knew what their experience was with removing their wisdom teeth. I have no idea where this fear came from, and I don’t know why I freaked out the first time the dentist told me they were coming in impacted. All I could see at the time was that there was a chance I’d have to eventually have all of them, or at least one or two removed. Intuitively, I knew I would have to get at least one removed.

Was it destiny that lower left last molar cracked on July 4th? Perhaps. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have found out I needed a root canal, & the dentist might have never told me that it there was a possibility of having to get the wisdom tooth next to it removed.

What’s my point about all of this?

Fear. It will control us.

…If we let it.

We’re all afraid of something. Be it a minor thing or a possible life changing event. Chances are that there’s something out there or in our minds that either has or does scare the shit out of us. Something we don’t want to face. Ever.

A lot of us have a fear of the unknown. In fact, The Unknown is possibly the biggest fear out there that keeps many of us from taking that leap of faith to meet our highest potential as human beings.

Today, I conquered my one of my biggest fears:

Removing a wisdom tooth.

And I am damn proud of myself for taking a chance.

I’ve never really thought of myself as ‘brave’, but the more I hear others tell me what they’ve seen me do, and the more I ‘feel the fear but do it anyway,’ the more confidence I feel within myself.

I’m not talking about a false egocentric cocky confidence to take unnecessary risks. I’m talking about having the confidence to do what feels right, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks.

Gaining confidence is a process. It’s not something that happens over night. Confidence has to be built up to, especially when one is navigating through a world full of deception, fear, & intolerance.

Today, I believed in myself just a little bit more. That’s one more step I made in helping realize my full potential in this life.

Today, I got to know myself a bit better and found out that I was capable of a lot more than I’ve given myself credit for.

In fact, it brought a smile to my face. By the sound of some reactions, you would think that there was actually no story behind it, and *just* destruction. It was there. Mind you, yes: There was a lot of destruction.

*SPOILER*

Metropolis was nearly annihilated. Might as well have been…

Clark definitely should have saved a lot more people. That is what he does. I didn’t see a whole lot of that in the film. …Yet, he also was trying to stop the “world machine” from destroying the entire planet, sooooo I can understand why that story and character decision/action was made.

As for the Jonathon Kent, and the actions he took to protect family, I have to agree 100% with my friend, Denny Upkins here. Sometimes one does have to remain in the closet. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having to do what you can to protect yourself from a world that might not understand you. Of course, Clark COULD have saved his father. But that wave and nod that Jonathon gave Clark was not because he wanted him to hide himself from the world. Jonathon did this A. Protect his son, first and foremost. & B. To relay the message and gift of timing. That moment was not the time. Jonathon was not about to make a compromised that could have put Clark in a dangerous position. If that’s not love, then I don’t know what is.

Originally, I was dead against the death of Zod, especially how it was handled. After conversations with my friends on Facebook, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am still very mixed on the choice made by the writers to have Superman kill him. But I do say this: Superman was put into a position where a compromise had to be made. There wasn’t anyway else in sight to stop him. At the same time, I do feel that it very much compromised Superman’s character in a way. YET, as my friend Jessica Leigh Carroll pointed out, this also could be the laying down of the groundwork for Superman’s moral compass. Since it was in self defense, and he didn’t have any other way out, perhaps compromising moment can help Superman to strive to be a better man. And perhaps he’ll spend the rest of his life making up for it. If anything, if Lex Luthor makes it to the sequel, Clark’s action of killing Zod can be ammo or a tool that Lex can use to psychologically torment Superman.

One of aspects of this film that I found to be very special was the spotlighting of Clark as the outcast teenager. Since this is one of my first blog posts, bare with me as I take a second to briefly analyze a few of the Smallville scenes from this film:

There was something that struck me when watching the conversation between Jor-El & Lara Lor-Van

Lara: He will be an outcast

Jor-El: How? He will be a god to them.

Both them of in the case with how Clark grew over the course of the movie are right.

Clark was and is, in someway, an outcast.

Lara knew this. She knew that her Kal-El would be alone in the world.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In life, we all have to travel our own path; finding our own way. She knew though that he would be the only one who knew what he was going through in the sense that he is not human, but Kryptonian. And the humans might fear and never understand him; probably resulting in death.

While that may have been true, Jor-El believed that his son would strive towards something that others would aspire to.

Both are right. Clark’s journey in discovering who is was not easy, nor will his future be. Yet, in spite of everything Clark has been through, he still sees the good humanity and lives as best he can by the ideals of truth, justice, kindness & yes, The American way. In the face of adversity, growing up he always showed something that not many do: Restraint. He could have seriously injured all of the kids who ever bullied him. He didn’t. He knew that even though he could hurt them, that he would not give into his lowest instincts. Even though he had to compromise that promise later in life, If that’s not strength, then I don’t know what is.

Clark has always struggled to do the right thing. I feel Jonathan gave Clark a compass in his earlier years to navigate through the burden Clark may have felt in learning the ropes of the responsibility of having his powers. In order for Clark to be a symbol of good for the human race to strive toward, he had to make some tough decisions, namely one being not to save his father. In a way, even though he saved the bus full of his classmates, he learned a valuable lesson about the consequences of what could and would happen if other people knew about the power he possessed.

Martha Kent’s guidance on having Clark focus on one thing, not only helped focus his senses and powers, but gave him sense of being able to block out the negativity he faced from his classmates and the bullies and bigots around him.

Though I personally have more research to do on Superman myself, I feel Superman really is the a character everyone, fictional and real alike, should strive towards. Though we may not always be able to show compassion to those who challenge us, Superman shows us that we can still hold our ground and maintain our ideals. Even though Clark was faced with a tough choice when it came to ending Zod’s terror and ended up compromising a part of himself, I still feel Clark consistently does everything in his power to be the best he can be. In the end, that’s what will have been important. 🙂